Fast Start Helps Southern Maine Down Husson

GORHAM, Maine -- University of Southern Maine jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the first 18 minutes of play and went on to take an 11-6 victory over the visiting Husson Eagles in a non-conference game Sunday afternoon at Hannaford Field.

The win is the third straight for the Huskies and improves their overall record to 3-1. The Eagles, who defeated the University of Maine Farmington 10-2 on Saturday, fell to 4-5 overall.

Senior Ben Landry (Lewiston, Maine) paced the Eagles' offense with two goals and two assists. Classmate Nick Brown (Fort Worth, Texas) had a goal and two assists. Senior goalie John Hooper III (Wakefield, R.I.) had three saves before giving way to sophomore Eric Lund (Mansfield, Mass.) in the second period. Lund registered nine saves.

The Huskies got the quick jump on the Eagles scoring seven straight goals to break a 1-1 tie. White broke the tie just 20 seconds after Landry had equalized for the Eagles at 10:46. Freshman Dan St. Peter (Windham, Maine) increased the lead to 3-1 less than a minute later. White and Joy added goals in the final four minutes to give the Huskies a 5-1 advantage after one quarter.

The Huskies continued to widen their lead getting three goals in the first 2:33 of the second quarter. Senior Dan Thomas (Shrewsbury, Mass.), junior Steve Ribero (Londonderry, N.H.) and sophomore Dylan Kenney (Portland, Maine) found the net for the Huskies.

Landry sparked a run of three consecutive Husson goals with a man-up marker at 10:24. Junior Mitch Heaps (York, Pa.) scored another man-up marker at 9:20, and senior Wayne Stubbs (Keene, N.H.) scored with 1:13 remaining to close the gap to 8-4 at halftime.

After the intermission, the Eagles continued to close the gap as Brown and junior Alex Ryan (Northfield, N.H.) sandwiched a man-up goal from Joy leaving the visitors down three (9-6) after three quarters.

Prince and Joy tallied goals in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to break the Eagles' momentum, and the Huskies' defense held the Eagles scoreless over the final 15 minutes.

Southern Maine travels to Henniker, N.H., on Wednesday (4:00 p.m.) to play New England College. Husson will host Mitchell College on Saturday (5:00 p.m.).